Garuda (summon)

Garuda(ガルーダ, Garūda?) is a recurring Wind-elementalsummon in the series. She is usually depicted as a green-tinted woman with claws and talons and wings protruding from her back. Aerial Blast is a common summon ability for Garuda.

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Garuda appears as one of the eight celestial Avatars, also known as sleeping gods, representing Wind. She can be acquired from the Cloister of Gales at Cape Terrigan. She can cast a number of wind-based spells and abilities in addition to using her claws to physically damage enemies.

Perhaps one of her more commonly used abilities is Aerial Armor, which gives every member of the party the effect of Blink, or Hastega which grants haste to every member of the party and is exclusively available to Garuda, but she also does have limited abilities which allow her to heal party members. Garuda is also highly respected for her Predator Claws attack, a devastatingly powerful strike that is often the Summoner's staple attack for notorious monster fights.

Garuda was a small bird raised by a young prince. When the prince got attacked by a viper, Garuda looked for means to cure him. Another bird informed her that she should seek the aid of the King of Birds, who could awaken the healing wind, Vuychap. Garuda flew ever further upwards, looking for the King of Birds, but couldn't find him anywhere. Having reached the limits of her strength, she fell from the sky, but her resolve was so powerful that she transformed during her fall, gaining a humanoid shape and regaining her vitality.

She realized that she now had the power to heal the prince, and did so, leaving him afterwards, as she no longer looked like the little bird he had raised. However, it is said that, once the prince grew up, he managed to find her and married her. Upon Garuda's death, Altana transformed her into the Celestial Avatar of Wind because of her loyalty and devotion. Vuychap is the name of the brightest, green-colored star of the Garuda constellation.

Though elegant of form and graceful in motion, the capricious and ruthless nature of this bloodthirsty being engenders mindless terror even amongst her devoted worshippers. Her wrath often erupts without warning, and descends upon her victims with unbridled fury.

Garuda is the primal worshiped by the Ixal, and is known as the Empress of Birds. It is said that in past ages, Garuda slew the malevolent Lord of Snakes to end his foul attempt to bind the world's creatures to the earth. Though birds became free to roam the skies, Garuda was terribly wounded by the battle and was forced to feast upon the snake's carcass to recover her energies, said to have since then a taste for the flesh of land-bound mortals.

Among the primals, Garuda is infamous for her destructive and unstable behavior, usually outright killing people. In 1.xx, she is first seen attacking the Quarrymill, unleashing strong winds over the hamlet and laughing madly. After being defeated, Garuda laments over losing her power as she dissolves into wisps of energy that ascend upwards towards Dalamud. In V2.0 A Realm Reborn, she expresses a desire to become an all-powerful goddess, a sentiment that is brutally shot down by Gaius van Baelsar.

The box art for the Collector's Edition depicts a feminine creature swirling around a generic adventurer. The design of this creature strongly resembles Garuda, particularly at the head and feet, although the wings are not as defined.

Garuda is a wind-elemental summon that appears in Final Fantasy Dimensions II. There are three versions of Garuda available in the game; two versions available to Wrieg and a version available to Maina.

In the original free-to-play versions of the game, all three versions of the summon could only be obtained through the summon drawing shop and equipped by any party member.

The bird-dragon Garuda appears as one of the many dragons, alongside other Final Fantasy summons, in Bahamut Lagoon. In the game he is one of the Holy Dragons and can be summoned for a powerful neutral-elemental attack.

[view·edit·purge]Garuda is a large, birdlike creature that appears in both Hinduism and Buddhism. It serves as Lord Vishnu's mount and is the Hindu name for the constellation Aquila. Contemporary representations of Garuda are the brahminy kite and phoenix.